Applications

Science

Particle accelerators: beating Murphy's Law, again and again

A particle accelerator uses magnets to steer beams of charged particles in myriads of ways: cyclotrons confine particles to a spiral path while they accelerate; bending magnets force particles to make a turn; focusing magnets refocus a diverging beam; switching magnets extract batches of particles out of a beam; wigglers cause particles to emit light; and so forth.

The functioning of an accelerator thus relies on the ultra-precise control of hundreds of magnets. Although every magnet is a single point of failure, around-the-clock operation has to be assured for months at a time, often with a lifespan of decades. The fact that accelerators all over the world achieve these feats is a tribute to human ingenuity.

The standard for over twenty years

Metrolab is the only supplier of a complete range of industrial-quality, high-precision magnetometers in this extremely demanding environment. Our NMR precision teslameters are the ultimate instruments for calibration, real-time field control and dipole mapping, and our digital integrators have entered history as the reference for more difficult magnet mapping jobs. For two decades, accelerator operators and particle physicists all over the world have relied on our equipment to get and stay operational.